Automatic call distributors (ACDs) are specialized systems designed to match incoming requests for service, for example a telephone call, a chat or any other multi-media call or contact request with a resource that is able to provide that service, for example a human contact center agent. ACDs generally perform one or more of the following functions: (i) recognize and answer incoming contacts; (ii) review database(s) for instructions on what to do with a particular contact; (iii) use these instructions to identify an appropriate agent and queue the contact, often times providing a prerecorded message; and (iv) connect the contact to an agent as soon as the agent is available.
In current ACD systems, when a caller or user calls in and all agents are busy, the caller gets queued and has to wait for an available agent. The queue time depends on how soon the agent becomes available and the number of calls already in the queue. Usually the expected time to hold is only an estimation that can go either up or down, depending on the nature of the incoming calls. For example, in some cases a user who was told that the average hold time will be twenty minutes may be connected with an agent in only ten minutes. In another scenario, a call center may predict that an agent will be available for connection with a user in twenty minutes; however due to the complexity of the issues that are being addressed by the agents, or because high priority callers dialed in, the system will not be able to keep its original estimation. In this specific case, after the user has waited for ten minutes in the queue, he may hear that he still needs to wait for twenty minutes despite the fact that the same message was given to him ten minutes prior.
Under these circumstances a user may remain in the queue for a long period of time thinking that he will be able to take care of his business only to learn fifteen minutes later that the new expected wait time is longer than the free time he is able to stay in the queue and handle his business. In one scenario, if the user needs to rush to another meeting and the user is calling from home, he can ask his spouse to handle the call while he caters to other demands. In another scenario, a manager may use a similar method and ask his administrator to help him handle the queued call. However, when the call is being placed from another location or from a different phone, an option left for the caller may be to hang up and call later thus losing his place in the queue. A similar scenario may exist if the caller calls from a cell phone and his battery is about to die, or he is about to enter an area without good cell phone coverage.